See sections 14.205–210 in The Chicago Manual for more information.
Important: Only use this form for web content that does not fit into other publishing types. Online journal/magazine/news articles, books, multimedia, etc. should follow the format for those resource types.
Use the listed elements below, where applicable, for citations in both notes and the bibliography.
Variations on the order, inclusion, and punctuation of elements will exist between note and bibliography forms.
See below for examples of footnotes and bibliography entries for a variety of web content types.
Elements to include when citing web content from section 14.207–208 of The Chicago Manual:
Web Pages
Blog Posts
Social Media Posts
Web pages can often be listed only in the notes. If a bibliography entry is needed, alphabetize by the owner/sponsor of the site.
1. "Know Your Risk for Heart Disease," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, last reviewed December 9, 2019, https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/risk_factors.htm.
2. "What is the National Debt Today?" Peter G. Peterson Foundation, accessed February 22, 2023, https://www.pgpf.org/national-debt-clock.
Peter G. Peterson Foundation. "What is the national debt today?" Accessed February 22, 2023. https://www.pgpf.org/national-debt-clock.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Know Your Risk for Heart Disease." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last reviewed December 9, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/risk_factors.htm.
Blog posts can often be listed only in the notes. If a bibliography entry is needed, alphabetize by the author of the post.
1. Rebecca Bratspies, "The Metropole Bookshelf: Who Was That Major Deegan Anyway?" The Metropole (blog), Urban History Association, February 8, 2023, https://themetropole.blog/2023/02/08/the-metropole-bookshelf-who-was-that-major-deegan-anyway/.
2. Ben Yagoda, "Why Do I Really, Really Want to Say ‘Had Went’?" Lingua Franca (blog), Chronicle of Higher Education, December 5, 2018, https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/why-do-i-really-really-want-to-say-had-went.
Bratspies, Rebecca. "The Metropole Bookshelf: Who Was That Major Deegan Anyway?" The Metropole (blog). Urban History Association, February 8, 2023. https://themetropole.blog/2023/02/08/the-metropole-bookshelf-who-was-that-major-deegan-anyway/.
Yagoda, Ben. "Why Do I Really, Really Want to Say ‘Had Went’?" Lingua Franca (blog). Chronicle of Higher Education, December 5, 2018. https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/why-do-i-really-really-want-to-say-had-went.
Social media posts can generally be quoted in text with a parenthetical citation as follows: (username, date). If a link is needed, use a footnote or endnote as below. Social media posts rarely need to be included in the bibliography.
See the third note for an example of citing a comment on a social media post.
1. Molly Higgins (@mollygoggles), "Another day, another article about Korean Americans indexed under Korea and Asia and nothing about America," Twitter, February 16, 2023, https://twitter.com/mollygoggles/status/1626303674967330818.
2. Newman University, "The first Open Mic event of the semester was a hit!" Facebook, February 22, 2023, https://www.facebook.com/96251055136/posts/pfbid026WSFJtbZLmjtz46KLk27MYiY9wENpKLTVSxSWPSGdwLf1R24dJqux8HhBbxXchvgl/.
3. Melinda Davies (@melsydavies), "This is a 1999 record, last touched in 2001. So could've had the MeSH: Asian Americans (1997-2022), right?" February 17, 2023, comment on Higgins, "Another day, another article," https://twitter.com/melsydavies/status/1626607280300126208.
Newman University. "The first Open Mic event of the semester was a hit!" Facebook, February 22, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/96251055136/posts/pfbid026WSFJtbZLmjtz46KLk27MYiY9wENpKLTVSxSWPSGdwLf1R24dJqux8HhBbxXchvgl/.